Ninjette Newsbot
December 5th, 2013, 04:52 AM
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THE Chancellor is expected to announce that vehicle tax discs will become a thing of the past come October 2014 when he reveals his Autumn Statement today.
Around since 1921, the disc – which proves you’ve paid your VED, not ‘road tax’ – is no longer needed in the era of ANPR cameras and electronic databases. Basically, you’ll still have to pay, but you won’t need a piece of paper to prove you’ve done it.
For bikes, the move also means the end of a whole cottage industry devoted to making tax disc holders that can be securely bolted to your bike and keep that fragile piece of paper safe from the elements. From cheap plastic clips to titanium-and-carbon-fibre masterpieces, their market has instantly been whipped away.
Under the revised system we’re also set to be able to pay our VED in monthly instalments rather than as a single hit. Not such a big deal when it comes to motorcycles, where the maximum price is currently £78, but with car rates currently stretching as high as £1065 for 12 months VED (first year rate for a high-emissions car), that option might be welcomed by many. It’s expected to carry a 5% surcharge to pay monthly by direct debit instead of paying once a year.
The cynical might suggest that introducing the option of monthly payments is a way to soften future blows of increased tax rates, of course…
Those increases are virtually assured. The government’s ‘environmentally friendly’ approach of charging less for low-emissions cars and far more for gas guzzlers has rather backfired – it’s worked so well, with so many switching to low emissions vehicles (or even bikes) that the overall tax income from VED is dropping at the moment.
Will you miss the tax disc? Is the Chancellor’s new system better? Or should there be a different solution entirely – like moving all VED onto fuel tax, for instance, as many have suggested?
Click here for full story... (http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-industry/bye-bye-tax-disc/24127.html)
THE Chancellor is expected to announce that vehicle tax discs will become a thing of the past come October 2014 when he reveals his Autumn Statement today.
Around since 1921, the disc – which proves you’ve paid your VED, not ‘road tax’ – is no longer needed in the era of ANPR cameras and electronic databases. Basically, you’ll still have to pay, but you won’t need a piece of paper to prove you’ve done it.
For bikes, the move also means the end of a whole cottage industry devoted to making tax disc holders that can be securely bolted to your bike and keep that fragile piece of paper safe from the elements. From cheap plastic clips to titanium-and-carbon-fibre masterpieces, their market has instantly been whipped away.
Under the revised system we’re also set to be able to pay our VED in monthly instalments rather than as a single hit. Not such a big deal when it comes to motorcycles, where the maximum price is currently £78, but with car rates currently stretching as high as £1065 for 12 months VED (first year rate for a high-emissions car), that option might be welcomed by many. It’s expected to carry a 5% surcharge to pay monthly by direct debit instead of paying once a year.
The cynical might suggest that introducing the option of monthly payments is a way to soften future blows of increased tax rates, of course…
Those increases are virtually assured. The government’s ‘environmentally friendly’ approach of charging less for low-emissions cars and far more for gas guzzlers has rather backfired – it’s worked so well, with so many switching to low emissions vehicles (or even bikes) that the overall tax income from VED is dropping at the moment.
Will you miss the tax disc? Is the Chancellor’s new system better? Or should there be a different solution entirely – like moving all VED onto fuel tax, for instance, as many have suggested?
Click here for full story... (http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-industry/bye-bye-tax-disc/24127.html)